Ex-Man City striker set to be Georgia's new far-right president

by Irakli METREVELI

Georgian ex-footballer turned far-right politician Mikheil Kavelashvili is set to become Tbilisi's next figurehead president in an indirect election denounced as "illegitimate" by the current pro-EU leader.

Picked by the governing Georgian Dream party as a loyalist, the former forward for the English Premier League's Manchester City is known for his expletive-laden parliament speeches and tirades against government critics and LGBTQ people.

He is expected to be voted into the role by an electoral college controlled by Georgian Dream, after the party abolished the use of popular votes to elect the president under controversial constitutional changes passed in 2017.

Kavelashvili being catapulted to the role comes at a dramatic moment as thousands of anti-government protesters have flooded Tbilisi for weeks, furious at Georgian Dream for shelving EU accession talks.

Protesters have described Kavelashvili as a "puppet" of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgian Dream's founder, who in turn has called him "the embodiment of a Georgian man".

Sporting a mustache and combed back hair, his comments on LGBTQ people have raised alarm, as Georgian Dream has adopted Kremlin-style laws curbing their rights.

The ex-footballer slammed the West for wanting "as many people as possible (to be) neutral and tolerant toward the LGBTQ ideology, which supposedly defends the weak but is, in fact, an act against humanity."

- Football roots -

Born in Georgia's tiny southwestern town of Bolnisi in 1971, Kavelashvili began his career as a professional footballer in the 1980s, playing for clubs in Georgia and Russia and becoming a striker for his country's national team.

The 53-year-old played for Manchester City between 1995-1997, scoring on debut against bitter crosstown rivals Manchester United.

He then joined Swiss club Grasshoppers, where he spent most of his time on the bench, before stints elsewhere in Switzerland at Zurich, Luzern, Sion, Aarau and Basel.

AFP Mikheil Kavelashvili played for Manchester City in the mid-1990s and represented Georgia internationally

Kavelashvili was disqualified from running for president of the Georgian Football Federation in 2015 due to a lack of higher education, a requirement for the role.

He has served as an MP for Georgian Dream since 2016 and was elected to the legislature on the party's list in October 2024 polls -- which opposition groups say were rigged and do not recognize.

In 2022, Kavelashvili, alongside other Georgian Dream lawmakers, established a parliamentary faction called People's Power -- an anti-Western group that officially split from the governing party but was widely seen as its satellite.

His political affiliations align with far-right ideologies.

- 'Oligarch's puppet' -

He is known for obscenity-laced statements against opponents and has accused Western leaders of trying to drag Georgia into Russia's war on Ukraine.

Georgian Dream nominated Kavelashvili for the largely ceremonial post in late November, aiming to strengthen its grip on power.

But the nomination outraged many in Georgia, especially those who have been taking to the streets daily for two weeks to protest Georgian Dream's drift from its aim of joining the EU.

On the 14th day of mass protests this week, demonstrators did not hold back in expressing their disdain for Kavelashvili.

"I can hardly imagine anyone less suited for the role of head of state," historian Nika Gobronidze, 53, told AFP.

He said Ivanishvili, the businessman widely believed to be pulling the strings in Georgian politics, chose Kavelashvili as a tool he could control.

"Caligula wanted his horse to be a consul, our oligarch wants his puppet Kavelashvili to be a president," he said, referring to the Roman emperor.

- 'Illegitimate' -

The new electoral process makes it a foregone conclusion that Kavelashvili will be the next president, with incumbent Salome Zurabishvili set to lose office.

But Kavelashvili will see his legitimacy undermined from the onset, with constitutional law experts -- including an author of Georgia's constitution, Vakhtang Khmaladze -- saying the election will be "illegitimate".

Tbilisi is currently engulfed in a constitutional crisis, with Zurabishvili demanding a re-run of October's parliamentary elections.

Parliament had approved its own credentials in violation of a legal requirement to await a court decision on Zurabishvili's bid to have the election results annulled.

Zurabishvili has declared the new parliament and government "illegitimate" and vowed not to step down at the end of her term on December 29 if Georgian Dream does not organize a fresh vote.